SBCI borrowers are more likely to use their loans for investing in growing the business – 85%of SBCI loans are being used for growth and investment purposes (compared with 36% of the Irish SME lending market generally)

SBCI Chief Executive Nick Ashmore said:

“2016 was a year of major progress by the SBCI as we lent significantly more money and added more lending partners – bringing the total number of SBCI loan providers to 8.

We also sourced additional low-cost funding from two new sources, which will allow us to bring more competition, more choice and better deals for Irish SMEs.

We are working hard to bring more lending partners and new risk-sharing loan products to the market in the coming months.

The recent success of our €150m Agriculture Cashflow Support Scheme shows that Ireland’s job creators are crying out for innovative low-cost loans and we are well placed to bring more of these to the market quickly.

With these additions to our loan programme, coupled with enhancements to the Credit Guarantee Scheme, we look forward to delivering effective, attractive supports for Irish SMEs in 2017 and beyond”.